ALA News

YALSA executive director Beth Yoke posted this comment today to the recent DOPA and 2 Cents post on this blog (as well as a similar call to action on the YALSA Blog). Her comment:

URGENT Action Needed Read More »

It's already mid-July and I'm still thinking about the programs, news, and events from the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans three weeks ago. This means either that it was an unusually important conference, or that I'm slow on the uptake and/or have serious conference closure issues.
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On the ever-informative LibraryLaw Blog Wednesday, Mary Minow posts a three-question interview with the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) executive director Beth Yoke about DOPA (Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006). In it, Yoke provides her 2 cents on the proposed legislation and her experience at the hearing. (Minow has stated that she believes the "law is blatantly unconstitutional," but warns, "that doesn't mean it won't get passed.")
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In other posts to this blog and elsewhere I have expressed my optimism about and appreciation for online conferences, workshops, and other online events, coupled with a growing sense that in-person conferences may gradually decline in frequency and importance as more librarians become acclimated to meeting online.

Personally, I find myself traveling less and meeting online more. Nevertheless, the joy of travel and attending large, energetic in-person conferences such as the ALA Annual Conference remains strong. There are certain aspects of in-person conferences that are difficult or impossible to replicate online.
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For the city in general, this is a big weekend for us, because ALA is our first major convention we're hosting since the storm. We've had little groups come in, but this is an 18,000 to 20,000 city-wide convention. We're receiving so much goodwill, and it couldn't be a better group than the librarians. The library has been the beneficiary of a lot of goodwill from a lot of libraries from around the country, and this is just another example of that. Read More »

The skies were relatively clear—but hot and humid, of course--when I flew into New Orleans midday on Friday. Even from the air I could detect something different about New Orleans. Quite a few of the homes and businesses still have bright blue tarps covering part or all of the roofs. I Read More »

Congratulations to Andrew Pace and American Libraries on the launch of Andrew's new blog, "Hectic Pace" (just in time for ALA Annual in New Orleans!). Read More »

**UPDATE, June 20 @ 10:53 a.m., Chicago, IL**
Tom Wilson will also be a member of LITA's Top Technology Trends Panel on Sunday. He was mistakenly left off the list. Sorry, Tom!
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We have jumped into that laboratory experience together and are learning together. Ten project teams are formulating collaborative projects as a means of learning. As I look at those project statements and at the posts that share the ongoing thinking process, I believe that this work will have lasting value to us—individually and collectively—beyond the life of this particular prototype process.—Mary Ghikas: Library 2.0 :: ConceptMore and more, I find myself filing posts on the ALA TechSource Blog under "ALA News" and "Library 2.0." I expect that to continue. Read More »

Usually I have a terrible memory. Once, in high school, I forgot the name of the young woman I was dating at the time—in her presence. Oddly, I recall her name very clearly now, thirty-three years later.

Even my addled pate, however, is capable of creating and maintaining vivid memories. I remember very well the sight of Charles Bailey poking his head into a crowded room just prior to the start of an ALA Annual Conference presentation—probably in June 1989—asking, at the top of his lungs, if people wanted to be able to communicate online with colleagues about professional issues. Like a union organizer, he frantically handed out printed leaflets to the eager, huddled masses describing how to subscribe to PACS-L.

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